Articles by RD

We found 3631 results.


(Português) Onde está o nó da questão ecológica (I)?
Leonardo Boff – Carta Maior, 8 Dec 2014

Estamos cansados de meio-ambiente. Queremos o ambiente inteiro, vale dizer, uma visão sistêmica do sitema-Terra, do sistema-vida e da civilização humana.

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(Português) Eduardo Galeano: Ayotzinapa, México
Eduardo Galeano – Carta Maior, 8 Dec 2014

Os governantes perderam o controle sobre o medo, a fúria que desencadearam está se voltando contra eles. A raiva digna fará o México despertar e questionar.

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Cuba’s Extraordinary Global Medical Record Shames the US Blockade
Seumas Milne – The Guardian, 8 Dec 2014

Four months into the Ebola emergency that has devastated West Africa, Cuba leads the world in direct medical support to fight the epidemic. The US and Britain have sent thousands of troops and promised aid that has yet to materialise. From Ebola to earthquakes, Havana’s doctors have saved millions. Obama must lift this embargo.

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US Control Is Diminishing, but It Still Thinks It Owns the World
Noam Chomsky – The Guardian, 8 Dec 2014

The United States has long assumed the right to use violence to achieve its aims, but it is now less able to implement its policies.

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Business and Entrepreneurs Seize Opportunities in Rise of Veganism
Damien Clarkson – The Guardian, 8 Dec 2014

With a growing consumer interest in plant-based healthy eating, vegetarian and vegan options present a chance new business and competitive advantage.

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Could Your Smart Tablet Be Damaging to Your Health?
Dr. Edward F. Group, Global Healing Center – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Dec 2014

A new report is showing that many tablets and phones are using chemicals that are drastically affecting the health of consumers.

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EU Divided on Issue of Net Neutrality
Alex Hern – The Guardian, 1 Dec 2014

European commission vice-president for single digital market has criticised Italian proposals to weaken net neutrality within the common market.

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In Praise of Buffer States
Robin Edward Poulton, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Dec 2014

Buffer states keep armies apart and allow important countries to trade in peace.

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Memoir Sketch: Championing Lost Causes
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Dec 2014

To contemplate death without the metaphysical painkillers of an imagined afterlife is to be finally alone. In a sense learning to die is equivalent to learning to live alone, and takes courage and fortitude.

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41 Men Targeted but 1,147 People Killed: US Drone Strikes – The Facts on the Ground
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian, 1 Dec 2014

New analysis of data conducted by human rights group Reprieve raises questions about accuracy of intelligence guiding ‘precise’ strikes. ‘They are only as precise as the intelligence that feeds them.’

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Gaza 2014 Compilation
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Dec 2014

A POMEAS Compilation of Writings Relating to Israel’s 50-Day Attack on Gaza

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Remembering Yoshikazu Sakamoto (1927-2014)
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 1 Dec 2014

I am sharing these words of appreciation, and hope that anyone from Japan who comes across this text will contact me, especially if they have a way of putting me in touch with either Yoshi’s family or Japanese media. I would like to believe that ‘an American appreciation’ of Professor Sakamoto, an important public intellectual, would be of interest to those who knew and admired him.

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Israeli Cabinet Approves Legislation Defining Nation-State of Jewish People
Peter Beaumont – The Guardian, 24 Nov 2014

23 Nov 2014 – A controversial bill that officially defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people has been approved by cabinet despite warnings that the move risks undermining the country’s democratic character.

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Fivefold Increase in Terrorism Fatalities since 9/11, Says Report
Ewen MacAskill – The Guardian, 24 Nov 2014

Terrorism is on the rise, with an almost fivefold increase in fatalities since 9/11, in spite of US-led efforts to combat it in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world, according to a report published on Tuesday [18 Nov 2014].

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UN Presses Myanmar over Rohingya Rights
ReliefWeb – UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 24 Nov 2014

The United Nations adopted a resolution Friday [21 Nov 2014] urging Myanmar to grant citizenship to its Rohingya Muslim minority, ramping up pressure on Yangon to scrap a controversial identity plan.

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Rethinking Economics: From Scarcity to Abundance
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Nov 2014

The coming crash may be humanity’s golden opportunity to transition to post-economic society. Or it may be the beginning of endless misery, violence, confusion, ignorance parading as technocracy, repression and –what is worse– ecocide.

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Why NATO Is a Danger to World Peace
Immanuel Wallerstein - Toward Freedom, 24 Nov 2014

NATO and what it symbolizes today represents a severe danger because it represents the claim of western countries to interfere everywhere in the name of western interpretations of geopolitical realities.

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Tanzania Accused of Backtracking over Sale of Masai’s Ancestral Land
David Smith, Africa correspondent – The Guardian, 24 Nov 2014

Masai told to leave historic homeland by end of the year so it can become a private hunting reserve for the Dubai royal family.

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(Português) Se Conhecêssemos os Sonhos do Homem Branco
Leonardo Boff – TRANSCEND Media Service, 24 Nov 2014

A crise econômico-financeira que está afligindo grande parte das econonomias mundiais criou a possibilidade de os muito ricos ficarem tão ricos como jamais na história do capitalismo, logicamente à custa da desgraça de países inteiros como a Grécia, a Espanha, Portugal e outros e de modo geral toda a zona do Euro, talvez com uma pequena exceção, da Alemanha.

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Two Interviews [of mine] on Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Nov 2014

14 Nov 2014 – Two recent interviews seek to assess the Palestinian national movement as it is unfolding at this critical time.

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Looking Back on WW-I One Hundred Years Later: Four Mixed Messages
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 17 Nov 2014

Dorothy Brown Memorial Lecture, Auckland, New Zealand, November 8, 2014

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(Português) Assim se constrói o Estado Global de Vigilância–e como sabotá-lo
Tom Englehardt entrevista Laura Poitras – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Nov 2014

Diretora de “Citizenfour”, o documentário sobre denúncias de Edward Snowden, alerta: controle social e esvaziamento da democracia ampliaram-se, após revelações. Esperança é consciência.

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Burma [Myanmar] Genocide: Case of Burmese Rohingyas Presented at Harvard
Alvin Powell, Harvard Gazette – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Nov 2014

Burma’s Rohingya people are being slowly squeezed from their homeland by decades-long government policies that critics say deny them citizenship, health care, work, and schooling, with such tactics punctuated by killings, destroyed homes, and tens of thousands sent to camps.

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ICC Rules Out Investigation into Israeli Raid on Gaza-Bound Flotilla
Agence France-Presse at The Hague – The Guardian, 10 Nov 2014

War crimes court [International Criminal Court] says killing of Turkish activists by Israeli commandos in 2010 not of sufficient gravity to warrant inquiry.

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Looking for a Leader in the Caribbean to End Discrimination against Homosexuals
Robin Guittard, CPNN – TRANSCEND Media Service, 10 Nov 2014

Trinidad and Tobago’s laws prohibit entry of “homosexuals” into the country and consensual same-sex relationships can be punished with prison sentences of up to 25 years… Positive change on the island could reverberate across the region.

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Mark Udall’s Loss Is a Blow for Privacy, but He Can Go Out With a Bang: ‘Leak’ the CIA Torture Report
Trevor Timm – The Guardian, 10 Nov 2014

The outgoing Senator and champion of civil liberties has one last chance to read the truth about American atrocities out loud, for the world to see – before it’s too late.

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Luxembourg Tax Files: How Tiny State Rubber-Stamped Tax Avoidance on an Industrial Scale
Simon Bowers – The Guardian, 10 Nov 2014

Leaked documents show that one of the EU’s smallest states helped multinationals save millions in tax, to the detriment of its neighbours and allies.
•What do you want to know about Luxembourg’s tax secrets?
•Video: The $870m loan company above a stamp shop
•Explore the documents in full

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UN Review of US “International Criminal Program of Torture”
The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, et al. – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

Since the United States last reported to the Committee Against Torture in 2006, even more evidence has emerged confirming that civilian and military officials at the highest level created, designed, authorized, and implemented a sophisticated, international criminal program of torture.

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Ecuador’s FM Wants Transnational Corporations Held Accountable
Ricardo Patino – Al Jazeera, 3 Nov 2014

It’s time to reign in the arbitrary actions of corporate power and create the conditions for a more just world.

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Foreign Jihadists Flocking to Iraq and Syria on ‘Unprecedented Scale’ – UN
Spencer Ackerman – The Guardian, 3 Nov 2014

30 Oct 2014 – A report by the UN Security Council finds that 15,000 people have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State (Isis) and similar extremist groups. They come from more than 80 countries, “including a tail of countries that have not previously faced challenges relating to al-Qaida”.

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Tim Cook: ‘I Consider Being Gay among the Greatest Gifts God Has Given Me’
Rupert Neate and Alex Hern – The Guardian, 3 Nov 2014

30 Oct 2014 – Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, has officially come out as gay and described his sexuality as “among the greatest gifts God has given me.” He has written about his sexuality for the first time, in the hope that he can ‘help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is.’

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UK Axes Support for Mediterranean Migrant Rescue Operation
Alan Travis – The Guardian, 3 Nov 2014

Refugees and human rights organisations react with anger as minister says saving people encourages others to risk voyage.

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Why Foreign Military Intervention Usually Fails in the 21st Century
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

We have reached a stage in the political development of life on the planet where civilizational and species survival itself depends on the urgency of building an effective movement against the war system that remains indispensable to sustain hierarchy and exploitation, wastes huge amounts of resources, and dangerously diverts problem-solving priorities.

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Major Banks Prepare to Pay Billions for Foreign Exchange Manipulation
Richard Smallteacher, CorpWatch – TRANSCEND Media Service, 3 Nov 2014

1 Nov 2014 – Some 19 investigations of multinational banks in ten different legal jurisdictions are on their way to completion and the final tally may hit $41 billion to settle charges of foreign exchange manipulation.

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Edward Snowden and the Golden Age of Spying
Tom Engelhardt interviewing Laura Poitras – TomDispatch, 20 Oct 2014

19 Oct 2014 – Having seen her film in a packed house at the New York Film Festival, I sat down with Poitras in a tiny conference room at the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City to discuss just how our world has changed and her part in it.

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Catholic Bishops Veto Gay-Friendly Statements Leaving Pope Francis the Loser
Lizzy Davies – The Guardian, 20 Oct 2014

Final report of Roman Catholic extraordinary synod on the family removes talk of ‘welcoming’ gay people.

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Oslo Is Dead! Long Live Oslo! The UK House of Commons Supports Diplomatic Recognition of Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 20 Oct 2014

On October 13 [2014] the House of Commons by an overwhelming vote of 274-12 urged the British government to extend diplomatic recognition to Palestine. At first glance, it would seem a rather meaningless gesture. It is a non-binding resolution.

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The U.S. Without a War Is like an Apple Pie without Apples
William Boardman – Reader Supported News, 20 Oct 2014

A Nobel Peace Prize recipient is among the loudest voices for war nowadays. Better, this Nobel Peace prize recipient has unchecked power to wage war and uses it willfully in a variety of nations. Perhaps best, this prize-winning peace president has set out to a plan to make a desert and call it peace, for which a grateful power structure might well give him yet another prize.

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Lockheed Announces Breakthrough on Nuclear Fusion Energy
Reuters – The Guardian, 20 Oct 2014

Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday [15 Oct 2014] it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready for use in a decade.

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Climate Change: How to Make the Big Polluters Really Pay
Naomi Klein – The Guardian, 20 Oct 2014

By dropping Shell, Lego shows new ways to target the astronomical profits of the fossil fuel industries.

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Secret Space Plane Lands at US Air Force Base after Unknown Two-Year Mission
Associated Press – The Guardian, 20 Oct 2014

Resembling a small space shuttle, the X-37B landed in southern California Friday [17 Oct 2014], after 674 days in orbit on a secret mission.

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Syria-to-Ukraine Wars Send U.S. Defense Stocks to Records
Richard Clough, Bloomberg – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

Led by Lockheed Martin Corp. the biggest U.S. defense companies are trading at record prices as shareholders reap rewards from escalating military conflicts around the world. Investors see rising sales for makers of missiles, drones and other weapons as the U.S. hits Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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US to Deploy 3000 Troops to Ebola Crisis Areas
Jeff Mason and James Harding Giahyue, Reuters – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

President Barack Obama called West Africa’s deadly Ebola outbreak a looming threat to global security and announced a major expansion of the U.S. role in trying to halt its spread, including deployment of 3,000 troops to the region.

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Police Go Nuts over Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Remote Speech in Vermont
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 13 Oct 2014

When Goddard announced that students had chosen Mumia to be the commencement speaker at their graduation, Philadelphia police, politicians, media, and Fox News went crazy with angry rhetoric aimed at curbing free speech.

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Did Israel Commit Genocide in Gaza?
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

In a special session of the Russell Tribunal, Israel’s Operation Protective Edge was critically scrutinized from the perspective of international law, including the core allegation of genocide through testimonies by legal and weapons experts, health workers, journalists and others who experienced the 50 days of military assault.

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Questioning Sweden’s ‘Bold’ Diplomatic Initiative
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 13 Oct 2014

The new center-left Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, in his inaugural speech to Parliament indicated on October 3 [2014] the intention of the Swedish government to recognize Palestinian statehood.

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China Just Overtook the US as the World’s Largest Economy
Mike Bird – Business Insider, 13 Oct 2014

8 Oct 2014 – Sorry, America. China just overtook the US to become the world’s largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund.

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Hypocrisy: Saudi Arabia Beheads 26 People in 1 Month, Some for ‘Sorcery’ – The West Has Nothing to Say about It (Images)
Richard Rowe, AATP – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Oct 2014

We condemn ISIS’ public beheadings, but in 2012-13, our allies in Saudi Arabia cut the heads off of 79 people [in public]. Let’s play “Compare and Contrast” for a moment:

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Iran Nuclear Talks: Why Tehran Must Be Brought In from the Cold
Christopher de Bellaigue – The Guardian, 6 Oct 2014

A deal with Iran is vital for the stability of the wider Middle East. The opportunity must be grasped.

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Changing the Political Climate: A Transitional Imperative
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 6 Oct 2014

The most daunting challenging of adapting to the realities of the anthropocene era is achieving a soft transition from state-centric world order to a geo-centric reconfiguring of political community to enable the emergence of effective and humane global governance.

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Neoliberalism Has Brought Out the Worst in Us
Paul Verhaeghe – The Guardian, 6 Oct 2014

An economic system that rewards psychopathic personality traits has changed our ethics and our personalities. We are forever told that we are freer to choose the course of our lives than ever before, but the freedom to choose outside the success narrative is limited.

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(Castellano) Sustentación, aceptación y legitimación de los extractivismos: múltiples expresiones pero un mismo basamento
Eduardo Gudynas – Centro Tricontinental-CETRI, 6 Oct 2014

Los extractivismos se expanden y profundizan a pesar de sus impactos y la resistencia ciudadana. Esto es posible porque distintas argumentaciones les brindan sustentación, permiten su aceptación y los legitiman. Entre las más importantes se analizan las siguientes:

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‘Africa’s Arms Dump’: Following the Trail of Bullets in the Sudans
Charlton Doki in Juba and Adam Mohamed Ahmad in Khartoum - The Niles, The Guardian Africa network, 6 Oct 2014

Sudan and South Sudan are among the most heavily armed countries in the world. The Niles investigates how this came about and the consequences of spiraling bloodshed.

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4+ Logics of Living Together on Planet Earth
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Sep 2014

It is misleading to describe ‘world order’ as consisting exclusively of sovereign territorial states. This misimpression is further encouraged by the structure of the United Nations, whose members are states, and only states.

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Right Livelihood Awards 2014 – ‘Alternative Nobel’ Goes to Edward Snowden
Society for the Right Livelihood Award – TRANSCEND Media Service, 29 Sep 2014

25 Sep 2014 – The 2014 Right Livelihood Honorary Award goes to EDWARD SNOWDEN (USA) “for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights”.

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Bhutan Could Be World’s First Wholly Organic Nation within a Decade
Jo Confino – The Guardian, 29 Sep 2014

Political parties in the Himalayan kingdom unite to eradicate chemical fertilisers and pesticides as part of its Gross National Happiness programme.

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Backsliding on Nuclear Promises
The Editorial Board – The New York Times, 29 Sep 2014

The administration is making a foolish trade-off — pouring money into modernization while reducing funds that help improve security at nuclear sites in Russia and other countries where terrorists or criminals could get their hands on nuclear materials.

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Julian Assange: ‘When you post to Facebook, you’re being a rat’
James Camp – The Guardian, 29 Sep 2014

Assange said: “Compare the mission statements of Google and the NSA – the NSA say, ‘We want to collect all private information, pool it, store it, sort it, index it, and exploit it.’ Whereas Google says, ‘We want to collect all private information, pool it, store it, sort it, and sell those profiles to advertisers.’ “Really, they’re identical. Every time you go to a party and take a picture and post that picture to Facebook, you’re being a rat. You’re being a narc.”

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The Myth of Religious Violence
Karen Armstrong – The Guardian, 29 Sep 2014

The popular belief that religion is the cause of the world’s bloodiest conflicts is central to our modern conviction that faith and politics should never mix. But the messy history of their separation suggests it was never so simple.

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Fatah and Hamas Agree Deal for Unity Government to Take Control of Gaza
Peter Beaumont – The Guardian, 29 Sep 2014

25 Sep 2014 – The two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, have reached a “comprehensive” agreement that would turn over the civil administration of Gaza immediately to officials of a Palestinian unity government led by President Mahmoud Abbas. Breakthrough agreement negotiated in Cairo is designed to ease blockade and open way to reconstruction after Gaza war.

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The Fight to Keep Toxic Mining—and the World Bank—Out of El Salvador
Diana Anahi Torres-Valverde – Foreign Policy In Focus, 29 Sep 2014

Hundreds of protesters recently gathered at the World Bank to shame a gold mining firm’s shakedown of one of Central America’s poorest countries. For miners, investors, and artisans, few things are more precious than gold. But for human life itself, nothing is more precious than water.

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José Mujica: Is This the World’s Most Radical President?
Giles Tremlett – The Guardian, 29 Sep 2014

Uruguay’s José Mujica lives in a tiny house rather than the presidential palace, and gives away 90% of his salary. He’s legalised marijuana and gay marriage. But his greatest legacy is governing without giving up his revolutionary ideals.

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How to Make Isis Fall on Its Own Sword
Chelsea E Manning – The Guardian, 22 Sep 2014

Degrade and destroy? The west should try to disrupt the canny militants into self-destruction, because bombs will only backfire.

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NATO Makes War – NATO Is Not an Alliance for Peace
Robin Edward Poulton – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Sep 2014

NATO’s summit in Wales (September 4-5, 2014) was BAD NEWS for peace makers, and bad for all world citizens. Are the NATO Nuts going to invade Ukraine? Do they want to create a new European war? Dangerous rhetoric and dangerous ideas lead to dangerous actions.

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The New (Religious) Face of Civil Disobedience
Sanford Levinson – Al Jazeera America, 22 Sep 2014

A resurgent sanctuary movement may complicate the precepts of the Christian right. Conservatives and liberals might find themselves rethinking some of their views about the meaning of religious freedom and the responsibilities of good citizenship.

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Snowden: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Isn’t Telling the Truth about Mass Surveillance
Edward Snowden – The Intercept, 22 Sep 2014

Let me be clear: any statement that mass surveillance is not performed in New Zealand, or that the internet communications are not comprehensively intercepted and monitored, or that this is not intentionally and actively abetted by the GCSB, is categorically false.

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Memo on the Evaluation of the Community Work Program
Howard Richards – TRANSCEND Media Service, 22 Sep 2014

This memo stresses the importance of evaluating CWP´s compliance with its mandate to use public employment to catalyse community development. It also underlines the importance of issues in economic theory that bear on CWP´s contribution to society.

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Naomi Klein: The Hypocrisy behind the Big Business Climate Change Battle
Naomi Klein – The Guardian, 15 Sep 2014

I denied climate change for longer than I care to admit. I told myself the science was too complicated and the environmentalists were dealing with it. And I continued to behave as if there was nothing wrong with the “elite” frequent-flyer card in my wallet. A great many of us engage in this kind of denial.

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Iraq: Yazidis’ Genocide?
René Wadlow, UN Geneva Association of Word Citizens – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Sep 2014

With the incomplete evidence at hand, I would maintain that the ISIS policy is genocide and not just a control of territory. Although the UN “track record” of dealing with genocide is very mixed, the first immediate step is for a State to raise the issue within the UN.

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An Open Letter to Rabbi Ira Youdovin
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Serice, 15 Sep 2014

We have exchanged views frequently in the last few years, most often by way of adversary comments. I write now an ‘open letter’ because of your most recent comment objecting to my support for Steven Salaita in his campaign to have his tenure faculty appointment reinstated at the University of Illinois.

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The Fourth Branch – The Rise to Power of the National Security State: Who Rules Washington?
Tom Engelhardt – TomDispatch, 15 Sep 2014

As every schoolchild knows, there are three check-and-balance branches of the U.S. government: the executive, Congress, and the judiciary. That’s bedrock Americanism and the most basic high school civics material. Only one problem: it’s just not so.

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Isis Jihadis Aren’t Medieval – They Are Shaped by Modern Western Philosophy
Kevin McDonald – The Guardian, 15 Sep 2014

We should look to revolutionary France if we want to understand the source of Islamic State’s ideology and violence. Contemporary jihadism is not a return to the past. It is a modern, anti-traditional ideology with a very significant debt to western political history and culture.

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Steven Salaita and Zionist McCarthyism
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 15 Sep 2014

The outcome of the Salaita case will exhibit the current balance of influence as between Zionist McCarthyism and academic freedom. That such a struggle should be in doubt is itself a national disgrace that suggests the worrisome fragility of academic freedom as reinforced by the potency of money and regressive ideology.

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The Sad Legacy of 9/11: Isis and Al-Qaida Are Stronger Than Ever
Ali Soufan – The Guardian, 15 Sep 2014

Thirteen years later, it’s becoming clear that we have not fought a 13-year war so much as a one-year war, 13 times. It is the sad legacy of our tactic-driven response to 9/11 that bin Ladenism has spread far beyond Osama bin Laden’s wildest dreams.

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(Italiano) Due tipi di antisemitismo
Richard Falk – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 15 Sep 2014

Questo secondo tipo di presunto antisemitismo è una tattica impiegata per screditare i critici di Israele insistendo che non andrebbero distinti la critica di Israele e l’odio del popolo ebraico.

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MH17 Crash Caused by ‘Objects Penetrating Aircraft from Outside’
Gwyn Topham – The Guardian, 15 Sep 2014

9 Sep 2014 – Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air as a result of structural damage caused by “a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside”, according to the Dutch investigators’ preliminary report.

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Fukushima Crisis Continues, Was Worse Than First Reported
William Boardman - Reader Supported News, 8 Sep 2014

Nobody in the world knows how to dispose of radioactive waste safely and permanently. That’s a given. So Tokyo announced on August 29 [2014] that the Fukushima waste would be stored for 30 years in Fukushima prefect, in an “interim facility.” In Japanese, “Fukushima” means “Island of Good Fortune.”

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How America Made ISIS – Their Videos and Ours, Their “Caliphate” and Ours
Tom Engelhardt - TomDispatch, 8 Sep 2014

Looking back, it’s hard not to think of it as a kind of American jihadism and an attempt to establish what might have been an American caliphate in the region. In the process, the U.S. effectively dismantled and destroyed state power in the countries in which it intervened [Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya], while ensuring the destabilization of neighboring countries and finally the region itself.

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Two Types of Anti-Semitism
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Sep 2014

This second type of supposed anti-Semitism is a tactic deployed to discredit critics of Israel by insisting that criticism of Israel and hatred of the Jewish people should not be distinguished.

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Israel to Build 283 Homes on West Bank
Agence France-Presse – The Guardian, 8 Sep 2014

5 Sep 2014 – Israel has published tenders to build 283 homes in a West Bank settlement, days after announcing its biggest land grab on occupied Palestinian territory for three decades. That move drew international condemnation, even from its staunch ally, the US, and some Israeli cabinet ministers.

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Russell Tribunal Session on Palestine
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 8 Sep 2014

On September 24 [2014] a special session of the Russell Tribunal will examine war crimes allegations against Israel arising from the 50-day Operation Protective Edge military operation that commenced on July 8th.

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Fearing Political Islam: Why Arabs Betrayed Gaza
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom, 1 Sep 2014

Some Arab rulers continue to declare their strong support of Palestine and its cause. ‘Operation Protective Edge,’ however, has exposed beyond a doubt that such solidarity is just a mere show of words.

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The US Government Can Brand You a Terrorist Based on a Facebook Post. We Can’t Let Them Make Up the Rules
Arjun Sethi – The Guardian, 1 Sep 2014

Innocent people’s lives are being ruined. Why isn’t anyone watching the watchlist?

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The Outlaw State of Israel (Part I)
Richard Falk and Akbar Ganji – Al Jazeera, 25 Aug 2014

Since 1948 Israel has drawn a long list of military aggression, human rights violations and war crimes. It has become an outlaw state.

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The Outlaw State of Israel (Part II)
Richard Falk and Akbar Ganji – Al Jazeera, 25 Aug 2014

Unconditional US support for the state of Israel has precluded a peace settlement and destabilised the Middle East. In Part I we described the reasons that Israel has become an outlaw state. In this part we discuss US support for Israel and its consequences.

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Three Questions for Hamas
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 25 Aug 2014

Whether wittingly or not, the international diplomacy of the West has produced dispossession, violence, and seemingly irreconcilable conflict with disastrous and tragic consequences for the indigenous population of Palestine ever since the end of World War I.

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“Muslim Rage” and the Hypocrisy of the Western Liberal Elite
Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

The western liberal élite has a problem with Muslims, in particular with Muslim Rage, as Newsweek’s cover called it. It reminds me of that priceless, old misogynist quotation from Sigmund Freud: women–what do they want? What do Muslims want? They want to be part of the modern world yet they import these age-old hatreds that are so–well, primitive and unmodern. Muslims aren’t ready for civilization-primetime.

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Strange Regional Alignments in the Gaza Massacre
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

Neighborly Crimes of Complicity in Gaza – The abysmal failure of the Kerry induced talks showed definitively that Israel has lost all interest in a diplomacy that promises the Palestinians a viable and independent sovereign state at the end of the road.

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SeaWorld Shares Tumble 33% Following Blackfish Documentary
Ben Beaumont-Thomas – The Guardian, 18 Aug 2014

The negative publicity from Blackfish, a documentary film that followed the violent behaviour of an orca kept captive by SeaWorld, has caused attendance to fall at the theme parks.

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Edward Snowden the Most Wanted Man in the World
James Bamford, Wired – TRANSCEND Media Service, 18 Aug 2014

In May [2014] I received an email from his lawyer, ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, confirming that Snowden would meet me in Moscow and let me hang out and chat with him for what turned out to be three solid days over several weeks. It is the most time that any journalist has been allowed to spend with him since he arrived in Russia in June 2013.

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Gaza Homes ‘Uninhabitable’ as Tens of Thousands Come Back to Rubble
Jason Burke in Beit Lahia – The Guardian, 18 Aug 2014

United Nations says the level of destruction is ‘unprecedented’ as 30,000 people in Beit Hanoun alone need rehousing.

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Hashtag Genocide: Why Gaza Fought Back
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom, 18 Aug 2014

Since Israel besieged Gaza with Egypt’s help and coordination, life for Gazans has become largely about mere survival. Gazans were not allowed to venture out, fish, or farm, and those who got even close to some arbitrary “buffer zone,” determined by the Israeli army within Gaza’s own borders, were shot and often killed.

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UK Government to Block Arms Exports to Israel If Military Action Resumes
Rupert Neate – The Guardian, 18 Aug 2014

Announcement comes after lengthy dispute between leading Tories and Liberal Democrats over restriction of arms sales.

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1914: The Great War Has Become a Nightly Pornography of Violence
Simon Jenkins – The Guardian, 11 Aug 2014

The centenary has been seized as a military propaganda opportunity. So-called lessons learned have been ignored or forgotten. Britain’s commemoration of the Great War has lost all sense of proportion. It has become a media theme park, an indigestible cross between Downton Abbey and a horror movie.

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Palestinian Open Letter to UNSG Ban Ki-moon on Gaza
Richard Falk – TRANSCEND Media Service, 11 Aug 2014

Open letter to Mr. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon: stand for law and Justice or resign!

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5 Myths about Nuclear Weapons
Ward Wilson – Publishers Weekly, 11 Aug 2014

We were misled in the first instance, developed a wildly exaggerated sense of nuclear weapons’ power, and then spent forty years too frightened by the Cold War to re-examine our initial assessments.

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Hollywood Divided: Passions High as Actors and Celebrities Speak Out on Gaza
Rory Carroll – The Guardian, 11 Aug 2014

Artists voicing solidarity for Palestinians trigger backlash from industry heavyweights in a town with strong Israel connections. It is perhaps the last taboo in Hollywood but the carnage in Gaza is prompting an increasing number of artists and celebrities to do the unthinkable: criticise Israel.

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(Italiano) Dichiarazione congiunta sull’offensiva di Israele contro Gaza da parte di esperti di Diritto Internazionale
Richard Falk – Centro Studi Sereno Regis, 11 Aug 2014

La comunità internazionale deve fermare la punizione collettiva che Israele sta riservando alla popolazione civile nella Striscia di Gaza.

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Gaza Blockade Must End
Jimmy Carter and Mary Robinson – The Guardian, 11 Aug 2014

The UN should mandate an end to the siege of Gaza as a first step towards a settlement. There is no humane or legal justification for how the Israeli Defence Force is conducting this war, pulverising with bombs, missiles and artillery large parts of Gaza, including thousands of homes, schools and hospitals.

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Crimes against Humanity in Gaza: Is It Really a ‘Buffer Zone’ – Or a Bigger Plan?
Dennis Kucinich – The Guardian, 11 Aug 2014

5 Aug 2014 – It’s time to step back and ask if we want to support Israel if it wants to eject all Palestinians from their land. Late last week, the White House decried Israel’s attack on a UN school in Gaza as “totally unacceptable” and “totally indefensible”, then proceeded to approve $225m in funding for its Iron Dome.

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